Photography student Chris Rijksen is the winner of the Pride Photo Award 2012. After two days in which the international jury has judged 1.678 pictures it turned out that 4th year student Chris Rijksen is the winner of the Pride Photo Award 2012. The winning photo comes from her series ‘Gender as a performance’.

The jury stated that this year’s entries showed ‘a great diversity of esthetics, topics and sexual identities, while stories about transgender identities and stories formed the majority’.

Of the winning picture the jury said: “In searching for a photo that can, in one image, communicate what Pride Photo Award is about we chose this photo for the combination of impact and subtlety. There is a will to interact with the public, to connect with the audience.”

The winning photo is part of a series called ‘Gender as a performance’ which also won the second prize in this year’s theme category, Chameleons/Double Life. In these pictures the jury saw the photographer wearing clothes that are out of fashion and using an old-fashioned wire shutter release for taking the photos. “The outfits, the posture and the wire shutter release are carefully chosen to minimize distraction”, explains Pride Photo Award 2012 winner Chris Rijksen. “I tried to present recognizable archetypes through clothing, showing the malleability of gender. For a long time I felt I had to make a series about this issue, but I just couldn’t find the right way. ‘Gender as a performance’ is my best effort to date.”